Why is it so bad? Impossible to take a good watch pic with this phone. Apologies if this is a separate thread and if so just point me to it. Has anyone been able to mess with the settings to improve things?

 

I feel your pain. I switched from a pixel 3 to the iphone last year due to the pixel not have 4k video. I can't express how disappointed I am with the camera from a picture perspective. Videos are great but the camera is horrible IMO. I will be going back next upgrade.

 

There are camera apps you can try.

 

What are the issues you have?
Saw your 1016 shots, killers.
Are your shooting ProRaw?

 

Thanks - those were all with my previous phone (IPhone 11). I’m having issues with focusing up close and also a sort of in camera auto processing that seems to over process and over sharpen the photo right after it’s snapped. Apparently it’s a known issue and no one knows if Apple is going to fix it in a software upgrade eventually or not.

 

Have you try ProRaw. It’s Apple’s Raw format, this turns off all auto processing. You can apply your own during edit.
The 13 Pro focuses much closer than 11.
13P camera system is superior in every ways.

The closer you are to subject the shallower your depth of field. f/2 is pretty much useless and blurry for a (near) macro. Go to “Portrait” and close down aperture to f8, or even f16.

I shot all wrists at f/16
Hope this helps.

oh, and dips on that 1016.

 

In the Wide model (1x) The iPhone 13 Pro "Camera" app automatically switches to the ultra-wide camera (0.5x) when the object is closer than about 10 cm (4") to the camera. This is because the "Wide" camera (1x) can't focus closer than that. To maintain the same field of view in the transition the Camera app crops the picture a large amount, so using a fraction of the ultra-wide camera's pixel array aea. To use the full array one manually choose the camera 0.5x Ultra-Wide camera for close-up pictures.

 

I have the 13 Pro also, the trick to you have to get it to FOCUS properly!! Especially on the 3X lens. Otherwise the photos look like bad CGI

 

If you are using the 3x camera (telephoto camera) then it switches to the wide camera (1x) when objects are closer than 60 cm (24"). Look at the information of a photo "i" to see which camera the phone actually used.

 

My guess is that because this is really a sophisticated camera with a phone, you might have to dog deep into understanding the software. I’m in the same situation with my Mirrorless SLR.

 

So you’re using the default camera app in portrait mode in f16? Then you just crop the pic? In portrait mode you have to be pretty far away from the subject.

 

I also have been disappointed with my 13 pro images.. the over sharpening is ridiculous and there should be a software update to get rid of it. but I will say shooting in apple pro raw is much better especially if you edit your photos. I do agree the camera should be much more capable without digital processing for what it is and how much It costs...